Research Group on Modern trends in Criminal Law and Criminology: Crime Prevention and protection of civil liberties

Description

Criminal law has a two-faced character: on the one hand, it prevents the commission of crimes and thus protects the rights of all citizens, and on the other hand, it guarantees that the state's power to punish is exercised in accordance with a series of guarantees, which is why it especially protects the fundamental rights of the accused and convicted. It is from this tension between prevention and guarantees that dogmatics has traditionally studied the foundations and limits of the legal system. To this end, the central position of constitutional principles and the protection of fundamental rights has served to defend a political-criminal discourse in which respect for the general principle of freedom can legitimise the state's ius puniendi. However, the analysis of contemporary criminal law shows a marked tendency towards an increase in punitive rigour and towards the consideration of criminal dangerousness as a basis for criminal sanctions. This trend can be easily observed in the legislative reforms of the Spanish Criminal Code since its approval in 1995, being of particular importance the Organic Law 1/2015 on the reform of the Criminal Code, which introduces institutions of dubious constitutionality such as permanent revisable prison, as well as the expansion of security measures such as probation. In both cases, it is prognoses of criminal dangerousness that are the basis for the execution of sanctions.

The research group on "Crime Prevention and protection of civil liberties" aims to study this evolution, starting from respect for constitutional principles and the protection of fundamental rights as a methodological framework for research, in order to critically assess the inadequacies of these new political-criminal trends, using the training in Criminology of most of the members of the group to establish relations between Criminology and Criminal Law. The interdisciplinary nature of the research group will make it possible to study responses that can adapt the guarantee-based discourse to the implementation of effective preventive techniques in the face of the new political-criminal challenges of social change, as well as assessing the suitability of new forms of conflict resolution, such as restorative justice, to the criminal justice system, such as criminal mediation. Likewise, specific criminological phenomena will be studied, such as the prevention and treatment of sexual crime, as well as cybercrime cases where the criminal act presents a correlation with the advances derived from information technology.

In any case, the activity of the research group will seek to offer a perspective that integrates comparative criminal law, as well as international regulations, in order to reinforce the resulting lege lata and lege ferenda proposals.

Goals CT

Study and critical analysis of modern penal reforms based on the foundations and limits established by the preventive and protective function.

Research lines

Criminal mediation
Study and critical assessment from a multidisciplinary perspective of the introduction into the criminal justice system of alternative mechanisms for conflict resolution derived from restorative justice.
Cybercriminality
The context resulting from the rise of information technologies has led to the emergence of new forms of crime related to cybercrime. This being the case, thought must be given to adapting the response of criminal law to this new criminological phenomenon.
Criminal law and constitutional principles
Critical examination of the current state of Spanish criminal legislation in accordance with the constitutional principles and fundamental rights that limit the concept of Criminal Law.
Culpability and criminal dangerousness
Critical analysis of current trends towards the consolidation of a criminal law of authorship in various areas of criminal policy and its tension with fundamental rights, with special attention to the relationship between criminology and criminal law, and the introduction of algorithms and artificial intelligence in criminal decision-making on individuals.
Political-criminal assessment of modern penal reforms
General study of the political-criminal lines followed by the Spanish criminal legislator in the successive criminal reforms since the entry into force of the Criminal Code in 1995.
Legal and criminological study of offences relating to sexual freedom and sexual indemnity
Legal and criminological analysis of the problem, with a special focus on crimes of sexual assault and abuse, as well as crimes related to child pornography.
Legal consequences of the offence, exemption and extinction of criminal liability
The projection of penal guarantees in the construction of criminal responsibility has long permeated the central categories of crime. But these guarantees must also apply to the legal consequences of crime, to criminal enforcement and to institutions based on the criteria of the "necessity of punishment".